The aroma of roasting meat wafted by the lake, and Ye Chui’s group soon filled their stomachs. However, the strong girl, Guni, continued grilling fish and wolfing down meat. Soon, Ye Chui and the others realised she had consumed an amount equal to her body weight, then twice that, then three times…
Yet she kept eating, her flat stomach only slightly bulging.
Noticing their stunned expressions, Guni looked equally surprised, chewing as she spoke. “You’re full already? In our clan, those who can’t eat much are the weakest.”
“…”
It wasn’t about eating ability; her appetite defied physics entirely.
“For some swordsmen, food is quickly converted into sword energy. Those wielding greatswords or giant swords often eat a lot, as controlling such heavy weapons consumes a lot of energy,” Cass explained, looking defeated. He had eaten plenty of fish and wolf meat, but it paled in comparison to Guni. “I can eat my body weight in food, but her stomach seems bottomless. Converting food to sword energy is a talent, and hers is astonishing.”
“I thought that kind of eating was just a legend…” Debbie muttered.
“Legend?” Ye Chui turned to her.
Debbie explained, “Remember the Goddess of Wealth?”
Ye Chui immediately recalled the goddess, who shared Debbie’s name and wielded a giant sword larger than herself. He had seen her fight in a time echo. “Was the Goddess of Wealth that kind of glutton?”
“Exactly. Her weapon was a giant sword, and she was known for eating a lot before becoming a goddess. After ascending, her ability grew even stronger. Legend says a dragon ravaged the Northern Kingdom, and she slew it herself. Then she called the God of Gourmet, Grayton, to roast the dragon, and she ate the entire thing. It’s an old tale about her,” Debbie said. Her family had named her after the goddess for good fortune, so she was curious about her stories.
“Could Guni have inherited the Goddess of Wealth’s power, which is why she eats so much? She uses a giant sword too,” Reisa said, glancing at the crude stone sword beside Guni.
“Very possible,” Cass said, his expression turning serious. “I heard from the Fourth Prince that this relic world was recently discovered in an ancient book, called the ‘Land of Buried Swords.’ It’s likely the place where the Goddess of Wealth fell.”
The Fourth Prince had thought this was an unexplored realm, but it seemed adventurers had come here long ago and been trapped.
The name “Land of Buried Swords” was intriguing.
“And her talk of the Holy Mountain, demons, and ancestors’ remains suggests many secrets here,” Ye Chui mused. He turned to Guni. “You’re heading to the Holy Mountain to pay respects to your ancestors’ remains. Let us come with you.”
“No!” Guni refused quickly. “This is my trial. I must complete it alone!” She paused, brimming with confidence. “I’m the strongest warrior in the Holy Light Forest in a thousand years. I don’t need help.”
“Alright then…” Ye Chui said,无奈. The trial was clearly important to her, and they had no reason to interfere. He continued, “We’ll head to the Holy Light Forest. We hope you complete your trial successfully.”
Guni smiled and kept devouring her meat.
“Oh, we don’t know your name yet,” Debbie asked curiously.
“My name is Guni,” the girl said with a grin.
Under Ye Chui’s group’s astonished gazes, Guni finished the entire monster fish and much of the wolf meat. Her stomach finally bulged slightly, and she patted it contentedly, looking satisfied. She jumped up, effortlessly hoisting the giant stone sword onto her shoulder.
“There are many ferocious beasts near the Holy Mountain, and food is hard to find. This meal will keep me going for three days.”
The group was stunned again. What kind of creature was she?
“Follow the Cool Water River to reach the Holy Light Forest. It’s the safest place. Please tell the elders I’ll complete my trial,” Guni said before dashing downstream along the river.
Ye Chui’s group watched her vanish, discussed briefly, and decided to follow her directions to the Holy Light Forest. They were also worried.
“The Holy Light Forest is in the direction we came from. The Fourth Prince’s group is closer and might reach it first,” Cass said, concerned.
“Then we’ll have to face them head-on,” Ye Chui replied. His iPad was still upgrading, but he sensed it was nearly complete.
He was eager to see what new abilities the upgraded iPad would have, beyond unlocking intermediate spells.
They set off.
Ye Chui glanced up and saw the black strange bird still circling above.
“That bird seems to be targeting us. Should we try to shoot it down?”
…
“The Holy Mountain and ancestors’ remains! That must be the treasure of this relic!” a man’s voice declared.
Dozens of miles away, a group gathered: three swordsmen and a mage surrounding a short, gaunt middle-aged mage with eerie grey eyes—the same as the bird circling above Ye Chui’s group.
“We’ve made a big discovery. This place is called the Land of Buried Swords. The savage girl is going to pay respects to some ancestor with a sword. That sword must be a treasure!” the man continued. He was a one-eyed swordsman, his injured eye scratched by Jirga’s [Golden Rain], now bandaged.
These five were adventurers teleported with Ye Chui and Cass.
After Ye Chui’s group caused chaos and humiliated the Fourth Prince, he issued a bounty: ten thousand gold for Ye Chui, Cass, or Windsor’s heads, and five thousand for the others. These five adventurers stepped up to hunt them, as the bounty outweighed their expected earnings from the adventure.
The Fourth Prince’s group stayed to set up camp.
These five dared to pursue Ye Chui’s group, despite their strength, because they had a mysterious and powerful trump card.
The grey-eyed mage, Baka, wielded a rare form of magic: curse magic.
Curse magic, a fusion of shadow and mental magic, wasn’t strong in direct combat but was terrifying in other ways.
The strange bird was under Baka’s control through curse magic.
He could split part of his soul to possess other creatures for scouting. Hours ago, Baka had tracked Ye Chui’s group via the bird. With its sharp, hawk-like eyes, he read their lips and learned of their conversation with Guni.
This sparked great interest in the ancestors’ remains Guni was set to visit.
But curse magic’s true power lay in the “curse” itself.
“Go after that girl. She’s strange, with unusual strength, but she’s just a savage. Be cautious, and you should handle her,” Baka said, his voice cold and lifeless. “As for Ye Chui, Cass, and their group, leave them to me.”
“Are you sure, Baka?” the one-eyed swordsman asked.
Baka grinned coldly. “They’ve noticed my avatar. Soon, I’ll cast my curse. Once cursed, they’re as good as dead!”
The other four knew the power of Baka’s curse. After a brief discussion, they decided: one swordsman stayed to guard Baka, while the other three set off, bypassing Ye Chui’s group to chase Guni.
…
Meanwhile, as Ye Chui grew wary of the black bird and considered shooting it down, it suddenly let out a sharp “Caw!” and dove toward them. It was incredibly fast, reaching them in an instant.
“Careful!” Cass shouted, swinging his greatsword to unleash a wave of sword energy at the bird.
But the bird was agile, flapping its wings and dodging with a mid-air twist. It looked like a black hawk but had scales and two horns on its head, another unique beast of this world. Screeching, it lunged at Ye Chui with sharp claws.
“What the—!” Ye Chui yelped, dodging to the side. With his iPad magic book upgrading and unusable, Green quickly pulled a dagger from his own book and handed it to Ye Chui.
A summoning gate appeared before Debbie, and the Valkyrie Jiji flew out. With wings, Jiji was the perfect counter to this flying beast.
“Jiya!” Jiji cried, swinging her light sword at the bird.
The bird flapped again, its large body moving with surprising agility, narrowly dodging Jiji’s strike. It darted around the group, making it hard for them to use powerful attacks without risking friendly fire. Turning sharply, it lunged at Ye Chui again.
It seemed to target only him.
“Crack!” Green’s brick appeared behind the bird’s head, smacking it. The bird’s dive toward Ye Chui turned into a crash to the ground. But after flopping twice, it lunged at Ye Chui again like a beast freed from its cage.
The move was perilous, and Ye Chui was knocked down.
As the others rushed over in alarm, Ye Chui pushed the bird off and stood, looking puzzled. They saw the dagger he’d held was now lodged in the bird’s chest.
It seemed the bird was dead.
“I swear, it impaled itself on my dagger…” Ye Chui said, bewildered.
The bird had clearly targeted him, dodging nimbly before throwing itself onto his blade. What a bizarre feeling!
Then, as the group marvelled, a raspy voice came from the dead bird.
“The curse is complete!”
With that, the bird’s body melted into a pool of black blood. The blood writhed, slowly forming a human shape. Moments later, it became a black, identical copy of Ye Chui. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Baka, the curse mage. Ye Chui, I’ve cursed you,” the black Ye Chui said in Ye Chui’s voice.
“A curse!?” Cass exclaimed. “There’s a curse mage among the adventurers!”
“Curse mage?” Ye Chui stared at the black version of himself, feeling uneasy.
“It’s curse magic [Soul Sacrifice],” Debbie explained, knowledgeable about such magic. “It sacrifices part of the caster’s soul to gain the target’s power. That bird was the curse mage’s avatar, containing a piece of his soul. If someone kills it, the mage uses the resentment from that soul’s death to create a duplicate of the killer, copying all their powers. You killed the bird, Ye Chui, so you’ve been cursed, and this black version of you appeared.”
“Correct, little girl. You know a lot,” the black Ye Chui said with a cold smile. “[Soul Sacrifice] harms me to harm others. Each use costs part of my soul, and I can only use it ten times in my life. But to kill you, it’s enough.”
A magic that hurts the caster to deal greater damage to the enemy.
Once the curse was complete, it granted all the target’s powers.
It was indeed powerful. Baka chose Ye Chui because he believed him the strongest, capable of summoning a dragon and, according to the Fourth Prince’s intel, a ridiculously overpowered bald heroic spirit. Now, having completed the curse, Baka had those powers.
The black Ye Chui summoned a white-covered magic book, laughing maniacally. “Among those I’ve cursed with [Soul Sacrifice], you’re the strongest. Let’s see what mysterious abilities you have, haha… What!?”
His laughter turned to shock.
The magic book was empty.
Where was the dragon summoning?
Where was the bald heroic spirit?
This was completely unexpected!
Ye Chui smirked oddly. His iPad was upgrading, leaving him unable to use any powers. Among the six, he was currently the weakest.
Why curse him of all people?
“Green, brick him!”
